Head coach Pete Furey gets first win as Niskayuna routs Colonie in Section 2 football

NISKAYUNA - The Pete Furey era has been ignited at Niskayuna.

Furey, in his first season as head football coach at his alma mater, celebrated his first victory Thursday night with a dominating 51-18 win over Colonie.

Niskayuna (1-1) had scoring plays from all three phases - offense, defense and special teams - in finding the end zone eight times against the Wolf Pack (1-1).

"There's a lot of emotions," said Furey, the former defensive coordinator who replaced retiring Brian Grastorf over the summer. "Man, there's a lot of emotions. I've won a lot on this field, and I won as a coach a lot, but not as a head coach. I don't want to take the credit. These guys work their butts off. These guys earned it. It's their win, it's not mine."

In a critical game for Class AA playoff positioning, Niskayuna bounced back from last week's 41-20 loss to Shaker, rolling up 340 yards of offense and limiting Colonie to 191.

Furey is a 2009 graduate of Niskayuna, where he played for his father, John, who was head coach for 22 years. John Furey is one of his son's assistants on the current Niskayuna staff.

"We're so happy for him," senior linebacker David Sullivan said of his coach. "First of many. We're very proud of him. He's doing a great job. He's a great guy, but even better, coach."

The game seemed destined to be a back-and-forth affair when Colonie, on a 60-yard pass from Steven Thomas Jr. to Kaiden Hill, made it 13-12 just before the first quarter ended.

Niskayuna needed just two plays to answer, going 60 yards and scoring 11 seconds into the second quarter on Chase Meisner's 23-yard run. Nisky ran away from Colonie after that.

"I brought them together on the sideline," Furey said. "I told them they had to make a decision. Are they going to show up tonight? Are they not going to show up? After we got made a few big plays, they decided they were going to show up, and we showed up."

Quarterback Thomas Boler completed 9 of 16 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns.

"Boler's been unbelievable," Furey said. "The way he sees the defense, the way he can put the ball on the money, on time.

"He's just different. Man, he's earned it. He's worked for it. He put the work in, so it's paying off now."

Boler gave Niskayuna the lead for good on a 32-yard touchdown pass to Joey DiPiazza. He later connected with Poem Staten in the end zone for 42 yards.

38: Consecutive points scored by Niskayuna from the start of the second quarter until midway through the final period.

11: Niskayuna players who touched the ball on offense, either rushing or receiving or both.

3: Return touchdowns for Niskayuna - one on a kickoff (80 yards by DiPiazza), one on an interception (36 yards by Staten) and one on a punt (41 yards by Meisner).

Colonie: The Wolf Pack return home to face Schenectady at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Niskayuna: Next on the schedule is a trip to Schenectady at 7 p.m. on Friday.